Thousands of mourners gathered in Umm al-Hiran, a Bedouin village in the Naqab (Negev) desert on Tuesday, for the funeral of Yaqoub Abu al-Qiyan. The local teacher was shot dead by Israeli security forces last Wednesday during a demolition raid which left several people homeless. Umm al-Hiran is an “unrecognised” village whose approximately 1,000 residents the Israeli government is planning to relocate to make space for a Jewish town.

While police statements alleged Abu al-Qiyan deliberately rammed his car into a group of policemen, other witnesses at the scene and a video which later emerged of the incident suggested he was shot before the car started gaining speed, killing policeman Eraz Levi. Rights groups have demanded a criminal investigation into the incident, alleging police violated open-fire regulations.

Palestinian citizens of Israel have been protesting against a wave of demolitions that has hit their communities since the beginning of the year, particularly after Netanyahu's pledge that “there will be equal enforcement of the law for both Jews and Arabs” after a decision was announced to relocate the West Bank outpost of Amona. Amona was built 20 years ago on private Palestinian land slated for a future Palestinian state, and is illegal under both international and Israeli law.